Cool Hunting

by Tamara Warren

Set against a clean white backdrop, a running blue figure pumps its arms wildly. The athlete shatters into geometric pieces that morph into the figure of an equestrian, a dribbling basketball player, then a cellular phone, until finally settling into the Olympic rings. The spot is Samsung's Olympic promo video, interpreting man through the lens of machines and currently playing on the jumbotrons of Times Square. Rather than make the trek, you can also watch the short animation on Tronic's site and use a piece of paper lined up with the dividing line to achieve a stereoscopic effect.

The NYC-based Tronic Studio team of Jesse Seppi and Vivian Rosenthal created the short capturing the feverish agility of the Olympian. Self-described visual futurists, the duo studied various athletic movements in order to get the movements to look realistic. “Tronic's focus has been abstraction. One of the reasons we're interested in it is because we want to explore how far a form can be transformed and still be recognizable to the human eye,” Rosenthal says.

Samsung wanted a look that was bold and clean for the prominent LED billboard. “We came up with the concept and look of the slices because we felt like it was a way to both capture the feeling of the athletes but also the dynamism and visual boldness that we thought would play well in Times Square.”